Alexander Volkanovski stood his ground and then some against Yair Rodriguez.
The next featherweight title fight is rumored to be a rematch between two-time champion Alexander Volkanovski and Yair Rodriguez at this year’s Noche UFC.
UFC 320 is set to go down on Sep. 13 in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Volkanovski initially called for the undefeated Movsar Evloev to be his next challenger but Evloev has confirmed his next fight won’t be for the title, leaving many to think it will be the Mexican Rodriguez who gets the title opportunity in his home country.
Rodriguez returned to the win column at UFC 314, the same night Volkanovski reclaimed the vacant title against Diego Lopes. ‘El Pantera’ defeated former two-division Bellator champion Patricio Pitbull by decision to rebound from back-to-back stoppage losses to Volkanovski and Brian Ortega.
Going up against a flashy taekwondo striker in Rodriguez, Volkanovski used all of his weapons to put on a vintage performance.
Alexander Volkanovski rocked and stopped Yair Rodriguez for a brutal TKO win at UFC 290
Years before his title fight with Volkanovski, Rodriguez’s wrestling game was exposed against former champ Frankie Edgar, who battered his face with ground and pound after just one takedown.
Across three rounds of action at UFC 290 in July 2023, Volkanovski closed the distance with the striker and took down Rodriguez a total of seven times.
Rodriguez found his footing in round 3 as the interim champion was able to land on Volkanovski. Rodriguez’s confidence grew as he went for head kicks and he smiled after he threw a jumping kick that partially landed.
Rodriguez landed a leg kick that got Volkanovski’s attention and followed it up with a right hand and another head kick. As Rodriguez went for a body kick, Volkanovski countered with a beautiful right hook to send Rodriguez on the retreat.
Volkanovski pressed forward with punches to the body before he secured a textbook double-leg takedown next to the cage. Volkanovski clobbered Rodriguez with dozens of ground and pound shots to win by TKO.
Alexander ‘The Great’ successfully unified the featherweight title following his first lightweight title fight against Islam Makhachev.
UFC 320 return might not work for Alexander Volkanovski
With Movsar Evloev out of the title picture for now, all signs seem to be pointing towards Volkanovski fighting Rodriguez again.
While UFC 320 in Guadalajara, Mexico is the top choice for the rematch, the Sep. 13 date could be problematic for Volkanovski as he and his wife are expecting the birth of their daughter around the same time.
“With Evloev agreeing to another fight, I know for a fact that the featherweight title fight to be Volkanovski vs. Yair Rodriguez,” Álvaro Colmenero reported on Friday.
“For UFC 320 in Mexico it would be a perfect headliner, but ‘Volk’ will have another daughter in September and they wanted to avoid that date.
“He already missed the birth of a daughter, and he didn’t want it to happen again. But of course, the other attractive options would already be in November, or rather, December. I think we would go more to the last month of year.”